


A Joyful Future Drabbles

by WintersCaptain



Series: A Joyful Future [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, literally so much fluff i cant see straight, universe expansion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25366486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WintersCaptain/pseuds/WintersCaptain
Summary: A series of requested drabbles in my "A Joyful Future" AU, in which Aaron and Reader have a bunch of kids and Hotch is the Best Dad Ever™Each fic includes the year of occurrence in the title.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Reader
Series: A Joyful Future [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836898
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	1. Swaddle (2018)

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoy reading these as much as i love writing them! let me know what you think by dropping a comment or kudos - your love for writers keeps us going!
> 
> from tumblr user @sunshine-em: i’m going to reveal my simp-self for domestic hotch.... and how he definitely doesn’t have all the kristoff songs memorized so he can sing disney karaoke with his girls.... definitely not.

You stopped in the hallway, hearing Aaron’s low voice coming from the girls’ room. Caroline was in her rocker in the living room with Jack and Isaac, but Aaron had Sophia in the bedroom, soothing her as she fought off an ear infection. It broke your heart to hear her cry, but she’d been quiet for a while. 

Jack was more than capable of handling three-year-old Isaac (who mostly liked to assemble and disassemble the veritable mountain of puzzles from Aunt Penelope), and Caroline, who could swing back and forth all day so long as she was facing the window.

“That’s my girl. Yes, miss, you are just fine. You are doing so well. One arm...and then two arms!“

Aaron’s voice floated out the door, sing-song and soft. You loved the tone he took with his children - always gentle, yet firm when they were older, but with the babies, he was made of music. 

“And we wrap...here, then there, and then you become a beautiful little burrito, don’t you, my love?” 

You snuck to the doorway, finding Aaron bent over the changing table, animatedly narrating his every move to an enraptured Sophia. He was finishing up the swaddle, trapping her little arms at her sides (only after kissing her tiny fingers). 

“You are the smartest,” he bopped her nose, shifting his weight from side to side, bouncing, as she watched him with wide, brown eyes, “bravest, prettiest, sweetest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Uh oh,” you said, finally coming into view and coming to rest at his side. “Looks like I've been dethroned.” 

He shot you a grin. “Never.” 

You found Sophia’s blanket-covered foot and pinched her little toes. “How’s she doing?”

“Alright. Gave her some more Tylenol,” he gestured to the little whiteboard, where they kept track of feeding usually, and meds when applicable, “and she settled down after a few minutes. Next dose of antibiotics is in a couple hours.” 

You watched as he looked down at her with fierce fondness. He looked up at you, and the look didn’t budge. You kissed his cheek, and his eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into you and sighed. 

“Go get some sleep,” you told him. “You’ve more than earned it.” 

He kissed you gently, his fingers under your chin. “I’ll be up to start dinner at five.” 

When you finally picked Sophia off the changing table, you padded down the hall to check on Aaron. He was out like a light, ramrod straight on his side facing the door. 

As you walked back down the hall, you kissed Sophia’s little head and told her, “Your dad is the best man in the whole world. You and I are very lucky, little one.” You took another look at his socked feet, still visible from the hall. “Very lucky indeed.”


	2. Naptime (2018)

The house was suspiciously quiet when you woke up from your nap. Isaac was still asleep beside you in the big bed, curled up against Aaron’s pillow with his favorite stuffed lion in his arms. 

You kissed his head and gingerly left the bed, padding down the hallway on light feet. Aaron offered to take the girls while Isaac went down for his nap so you could get some much-needed sleep. With the girls hitting eight weeks old, they were starting to sleep through the night more often, but rest never came easy. 

When you rounded the corner into the girls’ room, you stopped in your tracks. Aaron and Jack sat in the matching rocking chairs, asleep, with equally sleepy girls in their arms. 

Aaron had Sophia against his chest, his head tipped against the back of the chair. Jack’s head was tilted awkwardly to the side while Caroline snoozed in the veritable fortress of pillows under his arms. 

_Aaron must have set him up before they crashed._

You pulled out your phone and took a picture, sending it to the _BAU Babes_ groupchat. 

_**naptime?** _

Penelope replied right away. _**Oh my god I could cry. Tell them i love them and miss them but please dont wake them let the angels sleep**_

JJ was next. _**So he does sleep? Good to know.**_

Emily was last, with a simple heart-eyes emoji. 

You put your phone away and crept to Aaron’s side. He stirred as you knelt beside the rocking chair, resting your head on his arms as you ran your hand back and forth over Sophia’s tiny shoulders. 

He looked so much younger when he slept. The stress melted off his face and his wrinkles all but disappeared. You loved him, even if you gave him nothing but hell for his “advanced age.” Just the other day, you were teasing him about his silvering temples while he fed one of the girls, but when he rolled his eyes and grinned at you, you could swear you stepped back in time to an era before you even knew him, before the FBI, before everything.

He had the advantage of knowing you before your middle-age years. You had the advantage of hearing about his life in his own words - the editorializing, the recollection, the bias. It was all Aaron, and you cherished every single minute with him and the family you’d built together. 

He mumbled something in his half-asleep state, but you didn’t catch it before he shifted his shoulders and passed out again. You kissed your daughter’s head, then rose, brushed the hair off Aaron’s forehead, and kissed him between his brows. 

You snuck out of the room and took one last lingering glance over your shoulder. 

_Like father, like son._


	3. Big Brother (2020)

Caroline, quiet as ever, only stared out the window as Sophia absolutely lost her marbles over something yet to be determined. 

Before you could turn around, Jack had unclipped his seatbelt and was spelunking his way to the middle row. 

Aaron eyed him through the rearview mirror, adjusting his grip on the wheel. “Careful, Jack.”

“Yeah, Dad. I’ve got it.”

You threw a hand back to steady him as his long legs made their way over the headrest. He immediately ducked down, finding Individual #1 - Sophia’s favorite stuffed elephant - under Aaron’s seat. Holding it in his sister’s eyeline, he pulled it out of her reach as she shot forward to grab it. 

“Soph - you can’t throw this. It’ll fall where you can’t reach and then you’ll be really sad. Got me?”

She nodded solemnly and sniffled. When she reached for it again, Jack relented and handed it over with a smile. 

“Do you want me to stay up here with you?”

That caught Caroline’s attention. “Yes!” 

Sophia nodded vigorously, clutching her elephant to her chest. Isaac wouldn't miss him in the back; your sweet boy was dead to the world, fast asleep in his carseat. 

“Games, Jack, lemme see!” Sophia peered over her brother’s shoulder in an attempt to exercise some agency over which mindless iPhone game was on the agenda. Caroline followed suit soon after, making a case for her favorite over Sophia’s. 

Jack’s eyes flickered up, as if sensing his father’s raised eyebrow in the mirror. He quickly reached for and buckled his seatbelt before resuming the game negotiation. 

You reached across the center console, and Aaron dropped his hand from the steering wheel to lace your fingers with his own. He kissed the back of your hand, and you pulled your hands into your lap, holding his in both of your own. He glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, with a smile he reserved only for you. 

The others always got on your case for having silent conversations - a tip of the chin here, a quirk of the mouth there - but you couldn’t help it. In nearly seventeen years of field work and nine years of marriage, you’d developed a language of sorts. It first took shape joint interrogations - usually your good cop, bad cop routine - where you had to play off each other and indicate intention and direction without explicit communication. 

You turned your head, checking the backseat. The girls were bent over Jack’s phone as he played a puzzle game against the clock. They were enraptured, and you watched how he checked in with them as he played. 

He glanced up at you, and flashed you a smile that almost startled you in its similarity to Aaron’s. All of your children had those moments. The Hotchner genes were strong, and you were struck by their resemblance to their father at least once a day. 

Jack kissed his sisters on the head between rounds, whispering quietly about snack options in the duffle under your seat. 

You shuffled, keeping your right hand closed around Aaron’s while your left stretched back to tug on Jack’s pant leg. 

“Yeah, mom?”

You met his gaze with a fond smile and soft eyes. “I just love you.”

He covered your hand with his own for a moment, before reaching over to snag Sophia’s elephant - perilously perched on the arm of her car seat. He looked back at you over his arm. “Love you too.”


	4. Disney Movie Day (2021)

All the BAU kids and their attached adults (including Emily) were over to the Hotchner’s - with four kids, they had the biggest couch - for a long marathon of Disney movies.

Frozen, of course, was first. Aaron had the girls in his lap, wrangling both the remote and the popcorn, while you had Isaac in your arms under his favorite soft blanket. Jack was on the floor, propped against your legs with Henry (who’d just hit an alarming growth spurt), Hank, and Michael.

Derek and Savannah were next to you, with their little girl (newly two-years-old) reclining happily in her mother’s lap.

It wasn’t long into the movie before Sophia and Caroline begged their father to sing along, “Just like we usually do, daddy!”

They continued their adorably belted rendition of Anna’s part to Love is an Open Door, tugging on the collar and sleeves of Aaron’s t-shirt. With a sigh and a wink at you, Aaron joined in with great enthusiasm. You sang under your breath until he dropped the remote to kiss your knuckles, and then you joined in at full voice.

The display surprised both JJ and Penelope into silence, and Emily immediately pulled out her phone. He had an excellent voice - something you already knew, of course - but because he’d never engaged in the karaoke shenanigans the rest of you got into, the team was caught entirely off-guard.

The seal entirely broken, the rest of you sung along with abandon. Fixer Upper was one of your favorites, poking fun at Aaron as you danced around the back of the couch with Isaac on your hip.

When Frozen’s credits rolled, it was time for Moana.

Apparently, that meant Derek’s turn. His performance of You’re Welcome was bold, to say the least, but had all the kids (Jack included) crying with laughter. He threw his baby girl in the air as he sang to her and Savannah in equal measure.

You tucked into Aaron’s side when he returned from ordering pizza, just as The Lion King started. It was the last movie of the day, the setting sun casting orange streaks through the living room.

Isaac was tucked behind your knees next to you on the couch, while Sophia snoozed between your chest and Aaron’s thigh. Caroline was splayed on her back across the couch at Aaron’s other side, his big hand resting on her little toddler belly as she watched Simba shake Zazoo.

The girls always looked minuscule next to him, and you did your best to enjoy it while it lasted. Lord only knows Jack looked small...until he didn’t.

It all moved so fast.

You looked up and pressed a kiss to the underside of Aaron’s jaw.

He looked down at you and smiled. “Hey.”

“Hey.” 

He kissed you, his lips soft and relaxed against yours. His lips wandered to the corner of your mouth, then over your closed eyelids, until he reached your forehead. He stayed there for a moment, his lips pressed to your skin, breathing you in.


	5. Out to Dinner (2021)

Caroline was already tucked up against your chest, zipped into your fleece. You fed her little pieces of her grilled cheese through your collar, but she was too exhausted to really eat much. 

The restaurant ran cold. Usually, you prepared for such scenarios, but you all been out running errands for most of the afternoon. Dinner was an afterthought at best, and thus the extra jackets were left at home. 

Isaac was curled into his father’s left side, Jack smooshed against Isaac’s other side to keep him insulated. Now firmly in his teen years, he ran hot all the time – an advantage in times like these, but not so much when he left his window open in the dead of winter with the heat on full blast. He’d passed his jacket to his sister when they first sat down. One forlorn look from Sophia and he caved, just like his dad. 

Still, Sophia was wrapped around Aaron like a koala, her head tucked neatly under his chin and her hands on his ribs under his jacket. He ate with one hand around the obstacles of both Sophia and Isaac, his fork in his left hand and his right on Sophia’s back. 

You admired him for a moment – the way his dark hair seemed to glow in the low light, the comfort and ease with which he sat covered in your children. It was completely natural, as if they were organic appendages. In some ways, you supposed they were. 

He caught you staring at him and shot you a warm smile that made your breath catch in your throat. Just then, Sophia whined about something you couldn’t hear, and you kept your eyes on him as he soothed her. 

“Hey, baby, I know. We’ll be home soon.”

You couldn’t hear what she mumbled into his shirt in response. 

“Yeah, love, here.” He passed her the lidded cup with her orange juice, and it disappeared into his jacket. 

You reached over and ruffled Jack’s hair. He grinned up at you. 

A little hand patted at your cheek. “Momma?”

You looked down at your little Caroline. Dave practically named her, calling her  _ caro _ upon seeing her for the first time, less than an hour after her birth, and solving the months-long crisis of finding her a first name. “Yes, baby?”

“When can we go home?”

You sighed and looked up at Aaron, who was already flagging down the waiter for a check. You reached out and put a hand on his shoulder in a silent thanks before looking back down at your Caro. “Soon, baby. Daddy’s taking care of it.” You nudged her. “I bet if you thanked him he’d be really happy.” 

She popped her head up out of your coat and looked at Aaron over her siblings’ heads. “Thanks, Daddy!” 

He reached over, tracing the apple of her cheek with his finger with a smile reserved only for his girls. “Anything for you, my love.”


	6. Heat (2021)

Aaron was securing Sophia in her car seat in the middle row while you were in the back, wrangling Caroline’s little arms into the straps. Your body arced over Jack, who ducked to stay out of the way while he checked his phone.

“Dad!” Isaac whined, from beside Sophia. “Can you turn on the heat?”

Without looking up from his task, he replied, “Can I do what, now?”

Isaac huffed, amended, and repeated, rote, “Dad can you please turn on the heat?”

_ He sounds just like Jack at that age. _

“Yeah, daddy. Heat please!” Sophia made little grabby hands at him and he snatched them both in one of his and pressed kisses into her palms.

“Once I start the car, you’ll have heat.”

“But dad I’m cold!” Isaac made a show of crossing his arms over himself and huddling into his car seat.

Aaron sighed and looked over at you. You were just clicking Caroline into place, with a small smile on your face. You definitely weren’t going to back him up on this one.

“I know, bud. Once I start the car, it’ll be warm. Just give momma and me a minute okay?”

“Daddy I’m cold,” Sophia said again. She was only imitating her brother and it took everything in Aaron to keep his eyes from rolling.

“Sweetie, you have Jack’s coat on. You should be plenty warm.” He tried to keep any harshness out of his voice, but he’d be lying if he said they weren’t all testing his patience a little.

“But I’m cold!” She insisted, crossing her arms. She and Isaac were mirror images of each other.

Thank God for Caroline, ever good-natured. She just watched your hands as they tightened the straps around her, silent as the grave.

Jack was smirking now, still ducked under you and on his phone.

“Hey, smartypants,” Aaron said, swatting lightly at Jack’s pant leg.

The smartypants in question looked up at his father.

“Make yourself useful and strap your sister in while I start the car. Make sure it’s -“

“Tight across the chest, I know.” Jack reached over and managed to complete the task before Aaron even opened the door, which was all at once amusing and annoying.

_ How did he do that? _

When the car started, a series of cheers left the backseat. You finally made it to the passenger side once you confirmed everyone was locked and loaded. By that point, you were not only overly warm but actively sweating.

Five minutes into the drive, you checked behind you to find all of them asleep save for Jack, who was trying to hide a small smile.

_ Ah, young love. _

He promised to tell you about the people he liked at school and did so far more readily with you than he did with his father. For that, and many other things, you were grateful. He never made you feel anything less than his mom, but sometimes the cooler-and-younger stepmom privileges were more than clear.

Aaron reached for you, and you took his hand, keeping it safely in your lap.

“You okay?” You asked quietly.

He smiled, the dashboard lights casting a glow on his face as he watched the road. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just a long day.”

“We’ll be home soon.” You raised your linked hands and kissed his knuckles. It was a promise.

His grip tightened on the wheel, and a smirk crossed his face.

_ Mission accomplished _ .


End file.
